Frank Castaldi

Tearful, angry victims crowded into a Chicago courtroom in September of 2010 as Frank Castaldi, the runner of a Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to a maximum 23-year prison term. Castaldi's scheme targeted hundreds of often working-class Italian-Americans. Castaldi, a Prospect Heights resident, had promised investors between 10 percent and 15 percent annual interest rates on promissory notes he sold them, raising $77 million from some 473 investors. Around $59 million was made in payments to some of them, but when the scheme collapsed in 2008, Castaldi was left owing about $31.6 million to more than 300 individuals and investor groups. Frank Castaldi, right. Image via morrisonworldnews.com.

Tearful, angry victims crowded into a Chicago courtroom in September of 2010 as Frank Castaldi, the runner of a Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to a maximum 23-year prison term. Castaldi's scheme targeted hundreds of often working-class Italian-Americans. Castaldi, a Prospect Heights resident, had promised investors between 10 percent and 15 percent annual interest rates on promissory notes he sold them, raising $77 million from some 473 investors. Around $59 million was made in payments to some of them, but when the scheme collapsed in 2008, Castaldi was left owing about $31.6 million to more than 300 individuals and investor groups. Frank Castaldi, right. Image via morrisonworldnews.com.

Tearful, angry victims crowded into a Chicago courtroom in September of 2010 as Frank Castaldi, the runner of a Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to a maximum 23-year prison term. Castaldi's scheme targeted hundreds of often working-class Italian-Americans. Castaldi, a Prospect Heights resident, had promised investors between 10 percent and 15 percent annual interest rates on promissory notes he sold them, raising $77 million from some 473 investors. Around $59 million was made in payments to some of them, but when the scheme collapsed in 2008, Castaldi was left owing about $31.6 million to more than 300 individuals and investor groups. Frank Castaldi, right. Image via morrisonworldnews.com.